Pete Thamel: 9 names to watch to replace Kalen DeBoer as Washington head coach

Kalen DeBoer made a major career move on Friday, becoming Nick Saban’s successor at Alabama, and moving on from the Washington Huskies.

After all DeBoer put into the Washington gig, it’s going to be an attractive job opening, coming off a College Football Playoff National Championship Game berth, and a move to the Big Ten. Ahead of their search, ESPN’s Pete Thamel has provided nine names to keep an eye on.

“Washington will be an attractive job. Officials there — for now — won’t have any college market competition,” Thamel posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Quick list (no order): Lance Leipold, Jedd Fisch, Matt Campbell, Ryan Grubb, Barry Odom, Chris Klieman, Kyle Whittingham, Dave Clawson, Kalani Sitake.”

Alas, that’s a fascinating mixture of established head coaches, talented play callers and leaders looking to move up a weight class. Washington will be able to convince some high-profile coach to follow in DeBoer’s footsteps, it just remains to be seen who.

Nevertheless, Kalen DeBoer will have his work cutout for him with the Crimson Tide, but he’s certainly leaving the Huskies better than how he found them. He can take solace in that.

More on Kalen DeBoer, move from Washington to Alabama

DeBoer is a fast-rising star in college football who will now be handed the keys to the premier and dominant college football program of the 21st century. Of course, he comes from Washington, where he coached for just two seasons, 2022 and 2023. But in that time, he flipped the Huskies from a 4-8 record program in 2021 to an 11-2 mark, Alamo Bowl win over Texas and a No. 6 final CFP ranking in 2022.

After returning star quarterback Michael Penix Jr. and his slew of elite pass catchers, Washington came into this past season with immense hype. And in a loaded Pac-12, it was DeBoer’s group who stood head and shoulders above the rest, finishing a perfect 12-0 in the regular season before completing a season sweep of a Top-10 ranked Oregon team in the Pac-12 Championship game.

That win completed a 13-0 mark and booked Washington’s bid to the College Football Playoff, their first since the 2016 season, where, coincidentally, that group led by QB Jake Browning and then-coach Chris Petersen, lost to Alabama in the national semifinal.

However, in this year’s semifinal, Washington broke through and toppled Texas for the second straight postseason to earn a spot in the national title game, something no Pac-12 program had accomplished since Oregon participated and lost in the very first College Football Playoff title game.

Prior to his time with Washington, DeBoer made quite the impression at Fresno State in just two years as well. He went 3-3 in Year 1 during the pandemic-altered 2020 season before leading the Bulldogs to a 10-3 mark in 2021, capping it off with a New Mexico Bowl win over UTEP. Despite just two years of experience as an FBS head coach, Washington saw DeBoer as a rising star and elevated him to the Power Five level.

Now, we’ll see how he does in the SEC, where he’ll have an immense amount of pressure on him in 2024.

On3’s Alex Weber contributed to this article.